Mavs reportedly open for business. Would yall trade Sochan and filler for Klay? He hasn't had a great year but he would get great looks with us. Spurs were also wanting to draft Klay (even before Kawhi) if he was still available at 15 in 2011 (from what I remember). I think it'd be a low risk gamble.

Enzo The Baker said:

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Mavs reportedly open for business. Would yall trade Sochan and filler for Klay? He hasn't had a great year but he would get great looks with us. Spurs were also wanting to draft Klay (even before Kawhi) if he was still available at 15 in 2011 (from what I remember). I think it'd be a low risk gamble.

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Have to be Olynyk for Klay because of salary.

Not sure I want Klay's 17.5M on the books next year...

That would give us about 170M on the books for 10 players before calculating the Hawks pick or Barnes new contract or the other 3 slots.

If we give Barnes 15+5 for the 1st rounder,we only have about 11M under the tax to fill out the last 3 roster spots, which means no move using the MLE. The VET mins are about 2.5, so two of those gives us about 6M for a free agent. Can't do anything about PF.

It's hard to know if Klay's shot will look better with better guards passing to him, but it's safe to say his defense will still look awful.

I think I pass.

Hard pass on Klay

The Coaches of the Month for December!

West: Mitch Johnson (@spurs)
East: Joe Mazzulla (@celtics) pic.twitter.com/mMq9ILOAI4

— NBA (@NBA) January 2, 2026

I think my list of players that have been on the trading block or on teams looking to trade, my target list would look like this:

Not on the board: AD, Giannis, Trae, Sabonis, Kuminga, Lauri, Trey Murphy, or any of the other super expensive guys.

MPJ: I wouldn't put MPJ on the board, because I don't want to give up two firsts for him and we obviously couldn't get him for Barnes+Olynyk. MPJ's contract ends after next year, but I don't think we would be able to afford to resign him with Wemby's contract happening then as well.

1. Isaiah Stewart. Detroit doesn't want to trade him, but if they go after a big, Stewart being traded would mean they can keep Holland/Thompson.
2. Naz Reid. I don't think Minn is going to trade him, but they are going after Trae. I wouldn't want Randle, who is the player most likely to be traded.
3. Andrew Wiggins. Miami doesn't want to move him, but they are looking at big names. Olynyk+Sochan works financially.
4. Royce ONeale. Sochan+2nd. Negative is he has 2 years after this at about 11M. But toughness, strength, defense, and 3pt shooting.
5. Sam Hauser. Better Julian Champagnie. Sochan's deal works.
6. Derrick Jones Jr. One more year at 10M for the D&3 forward. Sochan for him works.
7. Tobias Harris. Olynyk+Sochan works and is about 6M more for us, but would save someone else 6M if Detroit makes a big move. Would be a solid rotation with Barnes at PF. Better rebounding and defense, worse shooting.
8. Risacher. Sneak into a Hawks deal and hope we can coach and develop him better than the Hawks.
9. SloMo. Trade Sochan for him. Save the Jazz 2.1M, we get a guy with high IQ that plays defense and passes well.
10. Dean Wade. Shooting is down this year, but would be a decent rotation player at backup PF. Ending contract, upgrade to Olynyk.
11. Nic Batum. Better defense than Olynyk. Smart player. Team option next year.
12. Nick Richards, Yabusele, or Drummond. Big body with some nasty. All are about 5-6M contracts and only Yabu has a PO for next year. Yabu is more complicated because the Knicks are an apron team, so they can't take back more than they send out, but Yabu+Ariel for Sochan+Biyumbo saves them a million.
13. Simone Fontecchio. Just another ok shooter for depth on an ending contract.
14. Jarace Walker. Flip him and Sochan. Both need a change of scenery.
15. Taylor Hendricks. I was really high on him in the draft process. He hasn't done much in Utah, but is just 13th in mpg there. Shooting 39% this year. I would flip him for Sochan just to see if both would do better in a change of scenery.

I'm sure I missed some, but just my thoughts.

Edit. Totally forgot Bobby Portis. If Milwaukee makes a deal, would love him to come in and backup Barnes. Grab some boards, hit some threes.

Top 15 Defenders Faced by SGA in '25-'26...

What stands out? pic.twitter.com/jHm50p2LW7

— Basketball University (@UofBasketball) January 2, 2026

Castle holding SGA to 53% TS is absolutely elite

Guitarsoup said:

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The Coaches of the Month for December!

West: Mitch Johnson (@spurs)
East: Joe Mazzulla (@celtics) pic.twitter.com/mMq9ILOAI4

— NBA (@NBA) January 2, 2026

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I was reminded of Pop's reaction back in 2016, when he won the 16th of his record 17 Coach of the Month awards:

“I thought you should at least get a car or something. If there’s no car, I don’t give a damn.”https://t.co/yVcJJY8SGA https://t.co/48KxpGD2hD

— Jeff McDonald (@JMcDonald_SAEN) January 2, 2026

Zach on the Spurs: "They're for sure going to try to turn Sochan, plus a pick, plus a swap, plus maybe another salary - Olynyk or something - into another viable rotation player" https://t.co/gLCE61AjNw

— Collin Reid (@CollinReidPS) January 2, 2026

Vassell expected to miss multiple games. More minutes for Keldon and Bryant.

The Spurs are optimistic Victor Wembanyama's latest stint on the injured list will be a short one.

"We’re encouraged by what we’ve seen,” Mitch Johnson said today in Indy.

Devin Vassell's return, meanwhile, might not be as swift.

Injury updates here:https://t.co/AmdsD7Pu7o

— Jeff McDonald (@JMcDonald_SAEN) January 2, 2026

Quote:

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The timetable could be a bit longer for the Spurs' other missing starter, shooting guard Devin Vassell. Vassell suffered a left adductor strain in Monday's loss against Cleveland, an injury later confirmed by an MRI. "That will be more than a few games," Johnson said. "Just kind of have to continue to see how he ramps up and feels."

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Castle will average 30 once he starts getting calls. The disrespect is unbelievable.

LawHall88 said:

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Vassell expected to miss multiple games. More minutes for Keldon and Bryant.

The Spurs are optimistic Victor Wembanyama's latest stint on the injured list will be a short one.

"We’re encouraged by what we’ve seen,” Mitch Johnson said today in Indy.

Devin Vassell's return, meanwhile, might not be as swift.

Injury updates here:https://t.co/AmdsD7Pu7o

— Jeff McDonald (@JMcDonald_SAEN) January 2, 2026

Quote:

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The timetable could be a bit longer for the Spurs' other missing starter, shooting guard Devin Vassell. Vassell suffered a left adductor strain in Monday's loss against Cleveland, an injury later confirmed by an MRI. "That will be more than a few games," Johnson said. "Just kind of have to continue to see how he ramps up and feels."

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Not a problem. We have Lindy.

LawHall88 said:

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Zach on the Spurs: "They're for sure going to try to turn Sochan, plus a pick, plus a swap, plus maybe another salary - Olynyk or something - into another viable rotation player" https://t.co/gLCE61AjNw

— Collin Reid (@CollinReidPS) January 2, 2026

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I'll take one Nola wing.

Bryant is killing in on offense. His missed threes have led to multiple 5+ point swings.

KJ saving our butts in the 4th. I thought we've given up ALOT of open shots tonight to Indiana. We are lucky they aren't falling.

Any reason Mitch just waved and walked off after the final buzzer instead of shaking hands with Indiana coaching staff?

Enzo The Baker said:

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KJ saving our butts in the 4th. I thought we've given up ALOT of open shots tonight to Indiana. We are lucky they aren't falling.

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Yep. That and cleaning the glass. Only Lindy Waters and Harrison Barnes didn't have offensive rebounds. Beat them on 2nd chance points 22-3.

pkag02 said:

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Any reason Mitch just waved and walked off after the final buzzer instead of shaking hands with Indiana coaching staff?

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Lots of coaches do that unless they are close with the other team's coaches. Happens at lots of games.

Guitarsoup said:

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pkag02 said:

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Any reason Mitch just waved and walked off after the final buzzer instead of shaking hands with Indiana coaching staff?

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Lots of coaches do that unless they are close with the other team's coaches. Happens at lots of games.

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Also B2B. They're gonna get out of Indy quickly.

Atlanta is gonna beat the Knicks pretty handily at MSG. No Trae. They are stuck with him at least.

Thanks. Wasn't sure if there was bad blood or somn

13-46 from three tonight.

Woof.

FTAG 2000 said:

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13-46 from three tonight.

Woof.

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Getting better

“Hey Castle you like your hot dogs cold” is the wildest heckle I think I’ve ever heard LMFAO pic.twitter.com/mCZSA0rpRg

— hymn duncan (@hymnduncan) January 3, 2026

500 iq pass by Carter Bryant. Can’t teach this kind of court vision pic.twitter.com/J0AyVBhNc6

— hymn duncan (@hymnduncan) January 3, 2026

Just like Barnes' pass against the Knicks to Luke.

Vic is still out tonight vs Portland.

Guitarsoup said:

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Vic is still out tonight vs Portland.

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There was already a low percentage chance, but I think we can consider post season awards likely gone at this point.

Average Joe said:

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Guitarsoup said:

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Vic is still out tonight vs Portland.

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There was already a low percentage chance, but I think we can consider post season awards likely gone at this point.

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Whatever it takes to be healthy for the playoffs.

And like AgNatural pointed out earlier, if he doesn't make All-NBA or win MVP/DPOY, he can only get a 25% max extension, not a 30%.

I'm not sure it'll take 2 first for MPJ. I'm sure Brooklyn would love 2 firsts, but the list of teams that can take on 38 million in the 2nd apron era is very small. Basically, who are we competing with for trade offers?

Vassell plus Olynyk works financially and then I think you give them one pick with light protection (top 6) and say that's our final offer.

Brooklyn is tanking and already got 1 first for taking on his contract, so they could get a second first for flipping him now. They don't have a lot invested in him and I can't see the list of suitors being long enough to create a bidding war. Vassell is a good player so getting a good young player plus a pick should be enough.

The real mistake by the Spurs was not offering Vassell to the Nuggets for MPJ in the summer and getting him plus a 1st like the Nets did.

Guitarsoup said:

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Average Joe said:

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Guitarsoup said:

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Vic is still out tonight vs Portland.

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There was already a low percentage chance, but I think we can consider post season awards likely gone at this point.

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Whatever it takes to be healthy for the playoffs.

And like AgNatural pointed out earlier, if he doesn't make All-NBA or win MVP/DPOY, he can only get a 25% max extension, not a 30%.

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Definitely agree there, and I bet Vic does, as well.

Guitarsoup said:

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AggieEP said:

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I hadn't really been paying attention because... well the Kings suck, but quietly Maxime Raynaud has put up 15/9 in December on 57/41 shooting.

I was a bit miffed when we sold our 2nd round pick to Indiana, and even more miffed now because it seems silly to me that we (as mentioned above) still lack physical rebounding at times and this guy could have obviously plugged a bit of that hole for us while also giving us Wemby's chess buddy and another really cheap option for depth.

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Yeah, he's been a solid rotation piece and his contract is just 3y6M with 3rd year (2.5M) as a team option.

But at least we have Bismack for $2.2M this year instead or Raynaud at 1.2M.

I do know Raynaud wanted to stay in the NoCal area, but you can't tell me he wouldn't have been thrilled to team up with Wemby, too.

I don't get why we have only used seconds on two-way or stash players when we have roster spots open.

Also, we traded a 2nd to Charlotte to get them to eat Graham's 2.9M guarateed contract so we could do the Barnes trade, and that 2nd became Ryan Kalkbrenner.

The first four picks in the 2nd last year are all guys I would have loved to have landed.

Rasheer Fleming (PHX traded two 2nds to Minn for this pick)
Sion James
Noah Penda (French D&3 SF shooting 44% from three in limited minutes)
Ryan Kalkbrenner

Not taking swings on our tons of 2nd round picks is pretty annoying, especially now that we are an over the cap team. Last 2nd we gave a contract to was Tre Jones.

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I know this is from a few days ago now, but has the FO ever come out and said anything about a strategy with 2nd round picks? With the growing abundance of 23 year old college players with tons of experience and physically NBA ready bodies out there, I'd think all teams would be prioritizing finding those guys in the 2nd round to fill out their rosters.

Kalkbrenner and Raynaud were both 4 to 5 year college players with long track records of production you could project. Low ceiling, but pretty well defined floor. I think once you've got your 3-4 stars, (Wemby, Fox, Castle, Harper) the entire focus of your scouting department has to be finding Raynauds and Kalkbrenners to fill the roster cheaply with little to no risk of forcing you into tough financial positions. Even better, if they hit, they will be restricted free agents eventually and you can let the market decide their value rather than overpaying them via an extension. You get a chance to match and decide if the value is there for you or not.

AggieEP said:

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I'm not sure it'll take 2 first for MPJ. I'm sure Brooklyn would love 2 firsts, but the list of teams that can take on 38 million in the 2nd apron era is very small. Basically, who are we competing with for trade offers?

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Detroit. Tobias+Ivey+26 1st and future 1st.
Bucks with their 1 available future first.
Warriors - something around Kuminga+Moody and their future picks
Clippers. Collins+Bogi (both ending) and their future 1st.
Bulls have White and lots of ending contracts, and they always suck so good picks.

Quote:

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Vassell plus Olynyk works financially and then I think you give them one pick with light protection (top 6) and say that's our final offer.

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If they want Vassell, I think that is fine. But which pick? 29 and 32 are the only ones that don't have a swap tied into them, and I doubt they would take either of those. Do you want to give up on the Mavs or Wolves or Kings or Hawks swaps?

Quote:

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Brooklyn is tanking and already got 1 first for taking on his contract, so they could get a second first for flipping him now. They don't have a lot invested in him and I can't see the list of suitors being long enough to create a bidding war. Vassell is a good player so getting a good young player plus a pick should be enough.

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I think enough teams can use a high level movement shooter and a lot of those teams are desperate with likely really juicy picks down the road that they will be more attractive. LIke do you want a Spurs 29 pick or a Clippers, Bucks, Warriors, or Bulls 31?

Quote:

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The real mistake by the Spurs was not offering Vassell to the Nuggets for MPJ in the summer and getting him plus a 1st like the Nets did.

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Cam Johnson had more value and they wanted a forward more than a guard. Cam Johnson is cheaper, bigger, and has higher level experience since he was a starter in the Finals. Plus they already have and love Christian Braun. I don't think they would have done a deal with us. I had suggested something like Barnes, Keldon and a 1st for MPJ last year. They keep the shooting, add some depth and get cheaper.

AggieEP said:

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Guitarsoup said:

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AggieEP said:

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I hadn't really been paying attention because... well the Kings suck, but quietly Maxime Raynaud has put up 15/9 in December on 57/41 shooting.

I was a bit miffed when we sold our 2nd round pick to Indiana, and even more miffed now because it seems silly to me that we (as mentioned above) still lack physical rebounding at times and this guy could have obviously plugged a bit of that hole for us while also giving us Wemby's chess buddy and another really cheap option for depth.

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Yeah, he's been a solid rotation piece and his contract is just 3y6M with 3rd year (2.5M) as a team option.

But at least we have Bismack for $2.2M this year instead or Raynaud at 1.2M.

I do know Raynaud wanted to stay in the NoCal area, but you can't tell me he wouldn't have been thrilled to team up with Wemby, too.

I don't get why we have only used seconds on two-way or stash players when we have roster spots open.

Also, we traded a 2nd to Charlotte to get them to eat Graham's 2.9M guarateed contract so we could do the Barnes trade, and that 2nd became Ryan Kalkbrenner.

The first four picks in the 2nd last year are all guys I would have loved to have landed.

Rasheer Fleming (PHX traded two 2nds to Minn for this pick)
Sion James
Noah Penda (French D&3 SF shooting 44% from three in limited minutes)
Ryan Kalkbrenner

Not taking swings on our tons of 2nd round picks is pretty annoying, especially now that we are an over the cap team. Last 2nd we gave a contract to was Tre Jones.

---

I know this is from a few days ago now, but has the FO ever come out and said anything about a strategy with 2nd round picks?

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Never that I have seen. Just going by their recent history, which is mainly drafting guys that will be stashes or two ways. I think that should have changed this year.

Quote:

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With the growing abundance of 23 year old college players with tons of experience and physically NBA ready bodies out there, I'd think all teams would be prioritizing finding those guys in the 2nd round to fill out their rosters.

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Yeah, I think that is right. We knew that players would be a little more ready because they could make more money with NIL than being a late 1st or 2nd round pick. So I think we start seeing more players in the draft that are older.

Quote:

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Kalkbrenner and Raynaud were both 4 to 5 year college players with long track records of production you could project. Low ceiling, but pretty well defined floor. I think once you've got your 3-4 stars, (Wemby, Fox, Castle, Harper) the entire focus of your scouting department has to be finding Raynauds and Kalkbrenners to fill the roster cheaply with little to no risk of forcing you into tough financial positions. Even better, if they hit, they will be restricted free agents eventually and you can let the market decide their value rather than overpaying them via an extension. You get a chance to match and decide if the value is there for you or not.

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We have 15 players on the roster. I get that we were already bringing in two rookies, but lets not act like Raynaud would have been a significantly worse rim protector than Biyumbo.

Right now we have Utah, Portland, and Minnesota's 2nds in addition to the Hawks pick swap.

Use a couple on a big like Aday Mara or Henri Veesar and then grab Steph's buddy Alex Karaban.

Mitch Johnson said that Vic Wembanyama is “looking really good” and he expects him to travel to Memphis. He’s still considered day-to-day.

— Michael C. Wright (@mikecwright) January 3, 2026

Clingan is just going to destroy us tonight I guess?